'Daisy' Cow

I thought this might be an interesting story to tell. This was one of the cows in the pasture.
I've said before that I wasn't sure if I could eat steak after watching a cow be butchered. Well, sorry to all my vegetarian friends.. I still love steak. I even helped load that into the tractor bucket. It was kinda fun. I'm weird, I know.

Cowgirl Up

What does that mean anyway? "Cowgirl up"? I think I've found out, some of it the hard way.
Dad went home peacefully a few weeks ago. We all knew it was coming; you can see the ground approaching when you fall too.
It means having the will to pick yourself back up when you've hit the dirt. People say the hardest thing about riding is the ground. I've seen people who can't cope, can't handle the passing of a loved one. They close up, like a flower hiding its beauty from the world because the sun is gone or the weathers gotten colder. I wasn't going to do that. But it still hurt, rising each day with the bruises left from the fall.
It means approaching, sometimes catching your horse again. It isn't always easy. Sometimes it takes a while, sometimes you have to wait more than you'd like to. But eventually the horse returns. It wasn't comfortable; trying to go through the day and make life "normal".
It means swinging back into the saddle with the knowledge that you might come off again. You hope to God that it won't happen, but it's inevetable that the longer you ride and the more journeys you take, the more apt you are to come off one way or another. "Life's like a wild horse; you ride it or it rides you..."
It means being willing to take the trail that God leads you to. Sometimes there are steep hills and rough waters, and sore muscles are gonna happen. When you're going up and coming down, keep your butt in the saddle and hang on. When you feel like you can't take another day, hour or minute look around and take in the scenery, won't take long to forget about those sore muscles.
It means riding out the bucks and rears and fast pace that you can't control. And knowing when it's over that you've come out stronger and wiser for it. You can't always tell or foresee when something is going to happen. You think things are going great when suddenly the world tips, and all you can do is grip, rattle and roll.
I'm not sure how to wrap this all up nice and pretty, but I am sure that as long as follow where God leads best we can and ask for help when we're lost, confused or just misunderstood He'll be there with an answer.

Oh, boy... this has been my internal dialogue starting a week or two ago:
'July 19th leaving for Canada...wait, thats two months to make 3k...that's like $75 dollars a day i should be making...going to need more hours...wait, still need to get my truck registered... and, um, get insurance, passport, not to mention the tickets for the flight and bus...ooh, really need to get my level 2 passed off before I leave also...I'm gonna need to buy more hay soon too...what are we going to do with Sui and Eclipse?...'

Whoa, slow down Kaylan, breath.

'Abba, I can't do this one my own. If this is what you want I know everything will fall into place. Please take away my doubt and fear, I know they're not from you. Thank you for everything.'

Ok, now I feel better.

Darn Snake Bites!

Ever seen a cobra? Sleek, shiny, kinda pretty... but deadly. Well it just so happens my dad has been bitten by a one such snake. The really bad part? Right now him and my mom are out driving. You're probably thinking, "What?! They shouldn't be around, they should be in a hospital getting an antidote!" Well, unfortunately there isn't an antidote for my dad's condition.
The good news? The cobras I'm refering to are sleek, silver...cars. They were picked up by some buddies in the Utah Cobra Club and were invited to go for a sunday drive. Lucky ducks. Although I'm not sure how my mom's taking it, since she is "Safety Sally", but it's for my dad so I'm hoping she's not worrying about how fast they're going or how low to the ground they are, or how there's no roof on the car.
Cobra people refer to liking cobras as being "snake bitten". Well, my dad's got it bad.
Follow the link to read an article about him and his "snake" that was in a Utah newspaper earlier this week - http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705292077,00.html

Reading Horses

Horses are easy for me to read, since they're so expressive with their bodies it doesn't take too long to see what's going on. A swish of the tail, a raised hoof = he's bothered... swishing ears, raised head and easy trot toward a panel = she's curious about something. But with people, particularly siblings who can have so much going on under the surface it's a little trickier.
Maliki, my paint gelding, is very food and play (in that order sometimes!) oriented. So I've been bringing apples with me to the pasture in the morning with me. I'll put them on the barrels, a stump, a feeding bucket, cones. Then once I get him out I'll send him to those things and watch his face change from, "Oh brother, here she comes again." to, "Oh boy! Where's the next cookie? What do you want me to do next?" It's very rewarding to have him asking me questions and communicating with me. Yesterdays play session was great because our relationship was getting so much better. He wanted to hang out because I was interesting.
Eclipse, my grulla (dark buckskin) filly, is EXTREMELY play oriented. She'll scope things out, trample blankets, tarps and buckets, try to nibble on you and just want to be next to you. Which is very different from when I got her a year an a half ago. Scared little yearling, terrified of people, trailers, anything that moved. We could hardly move her around because everything would set her off.
Sui, dad's buckskin mare, is a delicate little flower of a horse. She wants to stand behind you, just lightly touching you. She has very little self-confidence, but with other horses she's a bit dominate. Once you understand horse's personality, or rather "horsenality" it's easy to know what they need and want.
Now here's the rub, how to understand my siblings to better get along with them. Any ideas?

Crap!

Yes, I know not a word my mother likes to hear. But sometimes it's how it is. Between the wet weather and the news about my step-dad. What else can ya say?
I love my horses but theres one job that isn't the funnest but needs to be done or you have to deal with the consequences... the ankle deep crap that has mixed with all the rain and snow.
It kinda feels like this with my dad, I know you're thinking "what does cancer have to do with horse poo?" Well, neither is very fun to deal with, but it's the individual that you love not what's going on. So, sorry mom but CRAP! THIS STINKS! And dad, I love you :)